Should I start Dylan Sampson or Keaton Mitchell in Week 9?

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on Dylan Sampson, and the board ranks him 192nd overall on the rest of his evidence.

Live drafts hold no current pick on Keaton Mitchell, and the board ranks him 198th overall on the rest of his evidence.

The market-based projections

The market-based projection for Dylan Sampson is 1.7 PPR points a game off 1 market across 1 market source. That is 30 percent of what a running back's projection needs, so it is a fragment of one rather than a projection.

The market-based projection for Keaton Mitchell is 1.1 PPR points a game off 1 market across 1 market source. That is 30 percent of what a running back's projection needs, so it is a fragment of one rather than a projection.

Dylan Sampson's projection is not complete, so the two figures are not set against each other here.

This season through Week 8

Through Week 8, Dylan Sampson has been on the field for 46 percent of CLE snaps, taken 16 percent of the carries, drawn 15 percent of the targets and had 6 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 2 of the offence's 18 third down targets, had 0 of its 6 chances inside the five and seen 5 of its 19 two minute targets.

His 11 targets have come 0.3 yards behind the line of scrimmage on average.

In Week 7 against TEN he carried 6 times for 45 yards, caught 3 of 3 targets for 32 yards and did not score.

In Week 8 against PIT he carried 1 time for 7 yards, caught 6 of 8 targets for 62 yards and did not score.

Through Week 8, Keaton Mitchell has been on the field for 32 percent of LAC snaps, taken 20 percent of the carries, drawn 9 percent of the targets and had 10 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 4 of the offence's 68 third down targets, had 1 of its 7 chances inside the five and seen 1 of its 28 two minute targets.

His 18 targets have come 1.6 yards behind the line of scrimmage on average.

In Week 5 against DEN he carried 6 times for 11 yards, caught 3 of 4 targets for 18 yards and did not score.

In Week 6 against KC he carried 2 times for 4 yards, caught 0 of 1 target for 0 yards and did not score.

In Week 8 against LAR he carried 4 times for 6 yards, caught 3 of 3 targets for 17 yards and did not score.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025 Dylan Sampson played 15 games and scored 87.6 PPR points, 5.8 a game, finishing RB55.

He carried 65 times for 175 yards and 0 touchdowns, and caught 33 of 40 targets for 271 more yards.

That came to 4.3 carries a game at 2.7 yards a carry and 2.2 catches a game.

He was on the field for 25 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

In 2025 Keaton Mitchell played 13 games and scored 55.4 PPR points, 4.3 a game, finishing RB67.

He carried 59 times for 341 yards and 1 touchdown, and caught 9 of 12 targets for 63 more yards.

That came to 4-5 carries a game at 5.8 yards a carry and 0.7 catches a game.

He was on the field for 17 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

Dylan Sampson was available for 2 games more.

Head to head

In 2025 Dylan Sampson scored 5.8 PPR points a game and Keaton Mitchell 4.3, 1.6 a game between them.

Dylan Sampson finished RB55 that year and Keaton Mitchell RB67.

Dylan Sampson had 6 more carries than Keaton Mitchell, 65 to 59.

Dylan Sampson had 24 more catches than Keaton Mitchell, 33 to 9.

This season Dylan Sampson holds the bigger snap share, 46 percent against 32 percent.

This season Keaton Mitchell holds the bigger share of the carries, 20 percent against 16 percent.

Byes and availability

Dylan Sampson is off in Week 11 and Keaton Mitchell in Week 7, so either can cover the other's bye.